The bike lane, on a half-mile stretch of Kinzie Street, is similar to protected bikeways praised by riders and criticized by motorists in New York and other cities. The project in Chicago cost $140,000 and is part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to install 25 miles of protected bike lanes each year.

The Milwaukee version will be a section of raised pavement to differentiate the bike lane from the traffic lanes.

Congratulations Chicago. I absolute love the idea of bike lanes being "protected from traffic with plastic posts." Wish we could have something more visual like this here in Milwaukee. I bike commute regularly from the West Suburbs to the East Side, and daily I am threatened by motorists who insist on driving their cars/trucks in the very clearly marked bicycle lanes!! I've been met with nothing but rude finger gestures when telling a motorist to get in their own lane. Seriously...

Bigjim, intelligent and complete infrastructure IS intended to reduce congestion."Another city survey found that bicycles accounted for about 48 percent of the morning rush-hour traffic on southbound Milwaukee at Kinzie."

More cycling or walking (even if it's people riding 1 day/wk to work, or purposely parking farther away in dense areas) reduces congestion. Alternative designs that share roadways between bikes and cars, besides being more dangerous, can actually be more congested as cars change lanes more frequently. Finally -- this is more complicated than we have time for, but I suggest reading the book "Traffic" -- adding driving lanes (or removing them) often doesn't have the "common sense" affect that we might think, as people change their driving habits (timing and route selection) when faced with less choices in a way that, counterintuitively, can actually reduce traffic.

This sort of improvement is a great way to encourage people to get out on their bikes. While bike lanes are great, increasing "subjective safety" by segregating cyclists from traffic is the only way to make cycling more mainstream.